How can I tell you how much my kids and I love Schoolhouse Rock? How often we’ve watched it together? How much they’ve learned?

Do you ever cry when you listen to something that’s really creative? I do sometimes when I listen to Broadway soundtracks. They’re just so perfectly written and brilliant, I’m sometimes just moved to tears.

And that’s how I am when I watch Schoolhouse Rock. Yes, I’m a basketcase. But hearing a melange of catchy, clever tunes about everything from the Boston Tea Party to the Industrial Revolution, especially when I remember watching them (and learning from them) as a child, it’s just too much for me to take.

And to see my own children watching them (and learning from them) too? Fugghetaboutit.

Here are some excerpts from some of my favorite numbers in Schoolhouse Rock’s “Election Collection”, which takes you from the founding of America up to the Industrial Revolution, and explains the three branches of government and the legislative process:

No More Kings (The Founding of America)

They knew that now they’d run their own land,
But George the Third still vowed
He’d rule them to the end.
Anything I say, do it my way now.

Anything I say, do it my way.
Don’t you get to feeling independent
‘Cause I’m gonna force you to obey.

He taxed their property,
He didn’t give them any choice,
And back in England
He didn’t give them any voice.
(That’s called taxation without representation,
And it’s not fair!)
But when the Colonies complained
The king said: “I don’t care!”

He even has the nerve
To tax our cup of tea.
To put it kindly, King,
We really don’t agree.

Gonna show you how we feel.
We’re gonna dump this tea
And turn this harbor into

The Preamble
In 1787 I’m told
Our founding fathers did agree
To write a list of principles
For keepin’ people free.

The U.S.A. was just startin’ out.
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
The things that we should be.

And they put those principles down on
paper and called it the Constitution, and
it’s been helping us run our country ever
since then. The first part of the
Constitution is called the preamble and tells
what those founding fathers set out to do.
We the people
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.

Sufferin’ Till Sufferage (Okay, so it’s a little militant. But the tune is hilariously catchy.)
Now you have heard of Women’s Rights,
And how we’ve tried to reach new heights.
If we’re “all created equal”…
That’s us too!

(Yeah!)

But you will proba…bly not recall
That it’s not been too…too long at all.
Since we even had the right to
Cast a vote.

(Well!)

Well, sure, some men bowed down
and called us “Mrs.” (Yeah!)
Let us hand the was out and wash the dishes, (Huh!)
But when the time rolled around to elect a president…

Oh, we were suffering until suffrage,
Not a woman here could vote,
no matter what age,
Then the nineteenth amendment struck
down the restrictive rule. (Oh yeah!)

I’m Just a Bill (Forever a favorite. Forever. It’s just brilliant.)

I’m just a bill.
Yes, I’m only a bill.
And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.
Well, it’s a long, long journey
To the capital city.
It’s a long, long wait
While I’m sitting in committee,
But I know I’ll be a law some day
At least I hope and pray that I will
But today I am still just a bill.

_________________________

Amazon.com has a great collection of Schoolhouse Rock DVD’s. The “Election Collection” is our favorite, and includes the songs I listed above plus many more.

mawcee On Monday, February 16 at 7:09 am

We were just watching these last night. We were in Chicago for four day weekend for a ballet competition for our 12 year old (wow, does any of this sound familiar?)…so we missed a heap of homeschooling (and she almost missed the competition when she spiked a 103 fever the first night we were there. The kid that NEVER gets sick). Anyway, thought we’d throw in SchoolHouse Rock to make us feel like we were doing something.(the info has stayed with me all these years, so it must work).

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Scarlett On Monday, February 16 at 7:14 am

I loved Schoolhouse Rock during my Saturday morning cartoons as a kid and I still love it!! Conjunction Junction was my favorite. =)

bizban On Monday, February 16 at 7:18 am

We LOVE Schoolhouse Rock. The Preamble got me through Senior year Govt. class back in the 80’s and my kids are learning their multiplication now. You are right, this is so creative it does bring one to tears.

My love for Schoolhouse Rock is beyond words. I bought them when the came out on video. I bought them when they came out on CD, and I got them for free on DVDswap. Can you believer someone gave away the whole set?? I remember watching these as a kid on Saturday mornings in between cartoons. I remember standing in front of Mrs. Skein in 7th grade and singing the preamble to her, because I couldn’t say it without singing it.

Now my kids can watch them any time. In fact, I’m getting them out right now because I can’t wait another minute. I’ve got to have my Schoolhouse Rock fix!!

JJ On Monday, February 16 at 7:32 am

Schoolhouse Rock is fantastic! Who would have guessed that we were being thoroughly brainwashed as we sat watching Saturday morning cartoons! On one of our monthly get togethers with friends we sat all evening and watched the set of Schoolhouse Rock DVDS while we drank wine – our kids thought we were crazy!

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Sue On Monday, February 16 at 7:38 am

My hubby got this for me for Christmas not long after we were married (15 years ago now!). I lived for the songs that ran on Saturday mornings because that was the ONLY time we were allowed to watch tv. And, that was in very short time periods. I knew when they would play so I’d not miss them. I love it and can’t wait for my babies to be old enough to watch and understand them too. ** IDEA: Give one of these away to a few folks and SHARE THE LOVE ***
thanks!

Anonymous On Monday, February 16 at 7:46 am

Conjunction Junction, I’m just a Bill! These all bring back fantastic memories of Saturday morning cartoons!

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Eileen On Monday, February 16 at 7:50 am

We use the math series to help our 3rd grader learn his math facts. Life, and learning, are so much more fun when set to music.

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elabella On Monday, February 16 at 7:50 am

Truthfully, I was a little (just a little) old to be into it, and it drove me nuts to hear (by then) adults – singing it as memory games at potlucks, gatherings… But NOW, I love it too as a teaching tool for my kids (and I learn also – shhh!) but also with a warning for them not to carry it to outrageously into adulthood.

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Maureen On Monday, February 16 at 7:51 am

Thanks, I am a bill, will be stuck in my brain all day. I am humming it as I type this, yes, I’m only a bill, sitting here on capitol hill.. Oh dear.
Thanks for sharing, Schoolhouse Rocks is a great.

Wendy On Monday, February 16 at 7:54 am

I love Schoolhouse Rock and remember almost all of them from childhood. I played the grammar video to my 6th grade students and they loved singing the songs. I will definitely be showing them to my 3 and 5 year old boys!

LisaB On Monday, February 16 at 8:01 am

When I was a junior in high school, my english teacher actually offered me extra points on my grade if I would sing the adverb song in class. (Lolly, lolly, lolly get your adverbs here!) I didn’t need the points that badly so I didn’t do it.

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Karen H On Monday, February 16 at 8:01 am

We have a couple of the Schoohouse Rock videos and even the 4yo loves them!

LisaB On Monday, February 16 at 8:05 am

I still walk around sometimes randomly singing bits of the songs…conjunction junction, what’s your function??

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Michele On Monday, February 16 at 8:06 am

I watched those cartoons as a kid. The other day my daughter started singing one of the tunes. I have no idea where she heard it from.

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Expat On Monday, February 16 at 8:09 am

Multiplication Rock rocks. I’ve always felt that 3 IS a magic number (yes it is), it WOULD be great if I could skate a figure 8 and I wouldn’t mind it raining forty days and forty nights (didn’t it rain, children?) if I could be Mrs. Noah on the ark with all those animals. Sensible woman.

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Ernestine On Monday, February 16 at 8:13 am

That is an awesome learning tool. I do love all those catchy toons. Remember “conjuntion, conjuntion, what’s your function”? Fun times.

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Anonymous On Monday, February 16 at 8:15 am

Put me down as another fan. Saturday mornings just weren’t complete without Schoolhouse Rock. Many years ago, one of my teachers required us to learn the Preamble. No sweat, because I knew the jingle from Schoolhouse Rock!

I got the DVD for my kids a couple years ago! Love ‘em! Also got a DVD of The Electric Company. I think my husband and I enjoy them more than the kids, though. LOL!

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FLWendy On Monday, February 16 at 8:18 am

Classics! I remember them so well and they were an easy and fun way to learn not only the Preamble, but many of the multiplication tables. I bought the DVD’s for my kids and they love them too. Love the Interjections……darn, that’s the end.

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Jodi On Monday, February 16 at 8:18 am

You are so not crazy or alone! I use School House Rock in my classroom all the time. My students love them and the catchy tunes stick in their heads for years. I bought the DVD a few years ago. I think my guilty pleasure is watching them when I don’t have students.

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Wendy (from Maine) On Monday, February 16 at 8:19 am

I’m not a homeschooler, but we bought the Schoolhouse Rock DVD about the time our daughter started singing along with things – way more palatable than Barney and the Wiggles! My American history class in high school got in big trouble with our teacher when we disproved her notion that none of us knew the Preamble by singing it to her….

Leslie On Monday, February 16 at 8:22 am

We love it in our house. I watched it as a child and bought the cassette tapes and VHS tapes when mine were wee. Some of the songs bring up a lot of emotion for me. I am not sure why. We also saw a live version on stage in Oregon. My son was very small and would walk around singing, “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, get your hatworms here…”

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kimmer On Monday, February 16 at 8:22 am

Oh, Bill is my FAVORITE!!! Also loved the Great American Melting Pot… and 5,10,15,20 (Ready or not, here I come!!!)… and Elbow Room…

Ronda On Monday, February 16 at 8:25 am

I LOVE schoolhouse Rock!
and we bought the DVDs for our kids and they love it too!

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Carol On Monday, February 16 at 8:28 am

Oh yes, we have these… my 6-year-old saw a news clip with a guy showing the 10,000 page bill currently going before congress, and she burst out in song. I’m just a bill… (Of course, she said that the bill on TV didn’t look right, because it wasn’t rolled up with a ribbon and tag saying BILL!) LOL

My daughter’s homeschool choir is singing a “schoolhouse rock” song this year. It is the “Only a Bill” song. They love it! Oddly enough, a friend had given dd a “Schoolhouse Rock” t-shirt about 2 weeks before this year’s Enrichment day started, so we got a big kick out of learning of that song for this year.

WOW…been a long time since I’ve thought about School House Rocks! I’m Just a Bill…Conjunction Junction…OMG Time to introduce it to my children.

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Laurel On Monday, February 16 at 8:32 am

Aw! I’m a music teacher, and I’m doing School House Rock Live Jr. with my 4th and 5th graders! They love it! It’s truly timeless!

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Kathy On Monday, February 16 at 8:34 am

This brought back fond memories…thanks.
I had forgotten the lyrics and now I am going around the house singing them. My kids think I have gone over the edge.
I’m only a bill yes I’m only a bill sitting here on capitol hill…………..

Sometimes we all learn best with a little music thrown in!…I think we need to remember that as educators!!!

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Julie On Monday, February 16 at 8:43 am

Yes, I am that old! Another fav of mine from that era is Free to Be You and Me with Marlo Thomas. I bought the newly revised book with the DVD for my two four year olds and gave it to them for Xmas. I hope that it becomes as much of their upbringing as it did mine, a mere 35 year ago!

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Regina in Ky On Monday, February 16 at 8:46 am

Schoolhouse Rock is how I aced the Preamble in school! Oh the great memories! My brother’s fav was ” I’m just a Bill” and I had a lot of favs. Always liked the “Figure 8″ one and “Conjunction Junction”.

oh man. We watch ours a lot!! My gave is Lolly lolly get your adverbs here. And The shot heard round the world… That song gets stuck in my head for weeks at a time I tell you!

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Barb 1230 On Monday, February 16 at 8:51 am

I’m just a few years older than you, Ree, and grew up with Schoolhouse Rocks. I loved it. We could only catch snippets of it between cartoons. I was thrilled when they put it out on DVD and got it for my own kids a number of years ago. I feel like I learned more from those cartoons than 2 years of government in h.s. I think my all-time favorite is “Interjections.”

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Jennifer Meeker On Monday, February 16 at 8:52 am

We found it Saturday at our library and I talked to kids into renting it. My 9 and 5 yr old LOVE IT!

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Mamalion On Monday, February 16 at 8:52 am

This is how I teach grammar to the younger set… And I read an article a few years ago that said there’s a whole generation of kids that can say/sing the preamble to the Constitution due to Schoolhouse Rock. Rock on!

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Sarah On Monday, February 16 at 8:53 am

Love your blog, Ree, and love Schoolhouse Rock, too! I am sad, though, to see you call the Suffragette song “militant”–what’s militant about pointing out the truth of that oppression? It was actually a lot worse than what the song depicts. I think it’s good for kids to know where we came from, so they can understand where we are and where we need to go. We don’t need to apologize for that, I don’t think.

Kristen On Monday, February 16 at 8:55 am

LOVE Schoolhouse Rock! My personal faves are “Three is a magic number” which we used to sing to our first daughter as a lullabye and “Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla” about pronouns. I can sing that one from memory! It is actually downloaded onto my iPod and my kiddos watch it at the doctors/dentist office when we are waiting for appointments. Four is the magic number now, so we’ve had to make some revisions, but it still sounds okay!

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truly-jen On Monday, February 16 at 9:00 am

I can still sing most of that preamble. ..and I was just watching “I’m just a Bill” on youtube.

I’ve found myself driving down the road singing “I’m Just a Bill” before. Yah.

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Miss Lila On Monday, February 16 at 9:08 am

Ree,
Thanks for more help on the homeschooling front. I’m a grandmother helping to homeschool 4 of my 8 grandkids.
I use all of your neat ideas. My daughters and grandkids think I’m pretty cool. (Shhhh don’t tell them I get all my ideas from you)

Oh how I love School House Rock!! It so takes me back to being a kid..and it is amazing how much you learn from it!

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MelindaV On Monday, February 16 at 9:21 am

I love School House Rock! I teach special education, and I use these in my classroom. To be quite honest, I have never really enjoyed history, math is more my subject area, but I can remember the words to any tune and these videos helped me through college history!

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Meng On Monday, February 16 at 9:22 am

I love Schoolhouse Rock, but I fail to see anything militant about the suffrage song, and it makes me sad that you would call it that. We may have gotten the vote, but equality between the sexes still hasn’t been achieved.

I tell my kids all the time that Schoolhouse Rock was my favorite cartoon as a kid–and it still is. They laugh and say, “Gosh, Mom, you really were a nerd!” They can laugh all they want; I’m okay with my nerdiness. You’ve listed my favorites here, but I loved them all. I made my youngest two learn the preamble using the clip of the song I found somewhere online and a DVD we borrowed from the library. I figured my kids were too old to justify buying it for ourselves, but someday (far in the future) I hope I will have grandkids with whom I can share my love of Schoolhouse Rock. Sesame Street, too.

One of the few VHS movies that I saved from our big videotape purge was the collection of School House Rock! They are favorite of ours and we’ve got our eyes on getting the CD/MP3’s to own. Our lovely library has them to borrow which we do frequently.

Interplanet Janet I think is my kids’ favorite

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Lori On Monday, February 16 at 9:23 am

Ha ha. I just spent 3 hours on youtube.com a few nights ago reliving old memories while watching School House Rock videos. I never realized how much I actually learned from them.

Oh yes I do remember. I may only be two decades old but I watched plenty of those shorts when I was much shorter than I am now :B

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Elizabeth H On Monday, February 16 at 9:42 am

I ADORED Schoolhouse Rock as a child! “Conjunction Junction” was one of my favorites, so when I saw them as VHS tapes a few years ago, I bought them all. Then when I saw the DVD set, I bought that. My 6-year-old loves “Money Rock” so far! {grin}

Bethany Lynn On Monday, February 16 at 9:43 am

Tracy On Monday, February 16 at 9:45 am

Love Schoolhouse Rock! I was so excited when it became available on DVD. As a kid I loved “Conjunction Junction”. My favorite now is “Three is a magic number”, it just speaks to me…

A man and a woman had a little baby
Yes they did
they had three in the family
And that’s a magic number.

The past and the present and the future.
Faith and Hope and Charity,
The heart and the brain and the body
Give you three as a magic number.

Three is a magic number,
Yes it is, it’s a magic number.
Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number.

I love how it mixes education with religion/spirituality and a major life experience. And as an extra bonus, it was developed by a dad (an Advertising guy) who wanted to help his son learn multiplication.